WO2016151815A1

WO2016151815A1 - Method for device control by thin client system

Info

Publication number: WO2016151815A1
Application number: PCT/JP2015/059214
Authority: WO
Inventors: 澤勇鄭
Original assignee: 株式会社シノジャパン
Priority date: 2015-03-25
Filing date: 2015-03-25
Publication date: 2016-09-29
Also published as: US11057499B2; US20180124215A1; JPWO2016151815A1; EP3276497B1; CN107430580B; JP6718435B2; EP3276497C0; CN107430580A; EP3276497A4; EP3276497A1

Abstract

[Problem] To provide an information processing system and a terminal device, with which device control can be accomplished at the terminal end using a relatively simple configuration. [Solution] A terminal device 3 which is communicably connected to a server device 2 and to a device 4 to be controlled receives from the server device 2 information specifying an input interface, presents the input interface to a user on the basis of the information, receives from the server device 2 control information for controlling the device 4 and data to be processed by the device 4, and sends the control information and the received data to the device 4.

Description

Device control method by thin client method

The present invention relates to an information processing system, a terminal device, and a program.

Many devices are controlled by a microcomputer, such as a handy terminal (hereinafter simply referred to as a handy terminal) equipped with a bar code reader used in business and a mobile phone. With the development of communication technology such as Internet technology, such various devices are equipped with a communication function and have a function of transmitting and receiving data via a network.

For example, many handy terminal devices are already used in the distribution site, and data is transmitted to the center side device via the network.

Republication 98/006037

On the other hand, there is a desire to control externally connected devices such as printers and various RFID tag readers / writers on the terminal side such as a handy terminal. However, since the number of terminals is generally large, it is difficult to install an application for controlling a device on the existing terminal side.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an information processing system and a terminal apparatus that can realize device control on the terminal side with a relatively simple configuration.

The present invention for solving the problems of the conventional example includes a server device, a back-end device, the server device, and a terminal device that is communicably connected to each of the devices to be controlled. In the information processing system, the server device accepts screen description information related to an input interface from the back-end device, and converts the information into a data format that can be interpreted by the terminal device based on the received screen description information. Means for converting, means for transmitting information in a data format interpretable on the terminal device side to the terminal device, and receiving control information for controlling the device from the back-end device; Control information transmitted from the back-end device via the server device. Receiving means for receiving, the control information the received, it is obtained by the fact that and means for sending to the device.

The terminal device according to one aspect of the present invention is connected to the server device and each of the devices to be controlled so as to communicate with each other, receives information defining an input interface from the server device, and receives the information Presenting means for presenting an input interface to the user, control information for controlling the device, data processed by the device, receiving means for receiving from the server device, and the received control information And device communication means for sending the received data to the device.

Furthermore, a program according to another aspect of the present invention receives a computer that is communicably connected to each of a server apparatus and a device to be controlled, receiving information defining an input interface from the server apparatus, Means for presenting an input interface to the user based on the information, control information for controlling the device, and data processed by the device from the server device, and the received control The information and the received data are made to function as device communication means for sending to the device.

It is a block diagram showing an example of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram showing the example of the back end apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram showing the example of the server apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram showing the example of the terminal device which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the example of the basic operation | movement of the information processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing the example of operation | movement of the information processing system which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system according to the present embodiment includes a back-end device 1, a server device 2, a terminal device 3, and a device 4 such as a printer. Although only one terminal device 3 is illustrated here for explanation, there may be a plurality of terminal devices 3. Further, the back-end device 1 and the server device 2 may be connected via a network, or may be integrally mounted by the same computer. The terminal device 3 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a display unit 33, an operation unit 34, a communication unit 35, and an interface unit 36. The terminal device 3 and the server device 2 are communicably connected via a network such as the Internet.

The back-end device 1 is a general web server, and functionally includes a web server unit 11 and a back-end processing unit 12 as illustrated in FIG. Here, when the web server unit 11 receives a request for distribution information from the server device 2, the web server unit 11 outputs the request to the back-end processing unit 12. This request is, for example, a request for a web page in HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and may include, as a parameter, data input by the terminal device 3 in an input field defined by screen description information described below. . The web server unit 11 also provides distribution information including screen description information that defines the appearance of the user interface to be displayed to the user of the terminal device 3 in accordance with an instruction input from the back-end processing unit 12. It is sent to the server device 2. Here, the distribution information is described using, for example, HTML or XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

The screen description information in this embodiment defines screen elements such as character strings (text), buttons, and input fields. Of these screen elements, those that accept an instruction operation performed by the user (buttons, input fields, menus, etc.) are hereinafter referred to as interface components.

The back end processing unit 12 accepts a request for distribution information from the web server unit 11 and outputs the distribution information related to the request to the web server unit 11. Here, the distribution information may be stored in the storage unit 32 in advance, or may be generated by the back-end processing unit 12.

Further, the request for the distribution information may include data input by the terminal device 3 as described above. As described above, when the request including the input data is received, the back-end processing unit 12 accepts the data input related to the operation guide element included in the distributed screen description information, and Execute processing using data. Specifically, this process is a process (business logic) realized by a program executed by the back-end device 1, such as inventory management and delivery management.

Further, the back-end processing unit 12 according to the present embodiment includes control information (device control information) for controlling the device 4 included in the distribution information and outputs it to the web server unit 11, and the terminal device 3 via the server device 2. May be sent to In the example of the present embodiment, this device control information describes a control command for controlling a printer or the like as the device 4. The distribution information including the device control information may include data input by the terminal device 3 or data generated by the back-end processing unit 12 as data processed by the device. For example, when the device control information is a control command for controlling the printer, this data is output together with the control command. Then, the data is printed by the printer to be controlled.

The server device 2 is a general server computer having a CPU that is a program control device, a storage unit, a display unit, and the like, and operates according to a program installed in advance. The server device 2 is functionally configured to include a client unit 21 and an information conversion unit 22 as illustrated in FIG.

The client unit 21 outputs a request for acquiring the described distribution information to the back-end device 1 together with the parameters input from the information conversion unit 22. As described above, this request is output together with a URL (Uniform Resource Locators), and is interpreted as a request for distribution information specified by the URL. The client unit 21 receives distribution information from the back-end device 1 and outputs the received distribution information to the information conversion unit 22.

The information conversion unit 22 converts at least the screen description information included in the distribution information into the data format (instruction to the terminal device 3) that can be interpreted on the terminal device 3 side for the distribution information input from the client unit 21. As a specific example, the information conversion unit 22 includes, in the screen description information included in the distribution information, a description indicating that the button should be displayed (this information includes distribution information to be requested when the button is operated). Are included in the data format (referred to as terminal control information) in a predetermined data format that can be interpreted on the terminal device 3 side.

The data format of the terminal control information is, for example, a series of character strings arranged in a predetermined format. Specifically, the interface component type (Type), mode information (mode), and size information (size ), Information on display position (“x”, “y”), information on display character string (text), URL (url) of distribution information requested when operated, etc. are described and arranged in XML. Yes (such as "<button mode = aaa size = bbb x = ccc y = ddd buttontype = fff url = ggg.eee </ button>"). Here, with respect to the size and display position information, the information converter 22 can obtain the size and position of the corresponding interface component based on the screen description information.

In addition, when the information describing a plurality of interface components is included in the screen description information, the information conversion unit 22 may arrange the information related to the corresponding interface components in the described order. The data in this format is interpreted by the terminal device 3 to be described later and used for screen display processing and information input processing of the terminal device 3.

Further, when the distribution information includes device control information and data to be processed by the device, the information conversion unit 22 outputs the device control information and the data to be processed by the device as they are included in the terminal control information.

The control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 is a program control device such as a CPU, operates according to a program stored in the storage unit 32, interprets an instruction input from the communication unit 35, and controls each unit according to the instruction. To do. Details of the specific operation of the control unit 31 will be described later.

The storage unit 32 is a computer-readable information storage medium that holds a program, such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory, and includes at least a readable / writable part. It also operates as a work memory that stores necessary information.

The operation unit 34 is a keypad, a barcode reader, or the like, and accepts information input according to a user operation, and outputs the accepted information to the control unit 31. The display unit 33 is a display that displays information in accordance with an instruction input from the control unit 31. Specifically, the display unit 33 includes a liquid crystal dot matrix display, but is not limited thereto. The communication unit 35 is, for example, a wireless LAN interface, and transmits / receives information to / from the server device 2 via an access point accessible to the server device 2 via the Internet. The communication unit 35 outputs an instruction received from the server device 2 to the control unit 31, and transmits information to the server device 2 in accordance with the instruction input from the control unit 31.

The interface unit 36 is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface or a Bluetooth (registered trademark) interface, and is connected to the device 4 to transmit information input from the control unit 31 to the device 4. The interface unit 36 receives information transmitted from the device 4 and outputs the information to the control unit 31.

Here, the operation of the control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 will be described. One of the programs executed by the control unit 31 is an interpreter that interprets terminal control information received from the server device 2 and causes the display unit 33 to display a character string or the like according to the interpretation result. Functionally, the control unit 31 of the present embodiment functionally includes an interpreter unit 41, a data input / output unit 42, a data holding unit 43, a device control unit 44, and a device communication unit, as illustrated in FIG. 45.

In the present embodiment, the terminal device 3 executes a basic program (BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) or operating system) as in a general computer control device, and is connected to an externally connected device. Data input / output is executed via the device communication unit 45 (virtual interface) set by these basic programs. That is, if the program executed on the terminal device 3 outputs information to be sent to the device with respect to the basic program, the device communication unit 45 realized by the basic program controls the USB controller or the like, Information will be sent to. Information received from the device side is received via the device communication unit 45.

The interpreter unit 41 accepts the terminal control information generated by the information conversion unit 22 of the server device 2, and the interface component type (Type), mode information (mode), size information (size), Information such as information on the display position (“x”, “y”) and information on the display character string (text) is extracted, and the extracted information is output to the data input / output unit 42.

In the present embodiment, the interpreter unit 41 outputs the distribution information including the device control information to the device control unit 44 when the device control information is included in the distribution information. At this time, the interpreter unit 41 may cause the display unit 33 to output a predetermined character string (for example, “printing ...”).

The data input / output unit 42 generates a display screen based on the information extracted by the interpreter unit 41. Specifically, when the information representing the “button” is extracted as the interface component type, the data input / output unit 42 refers to the size information and the display position information extracted together with the information. 33 is controlled to display a button image. In addition, when the user inputs data by operating the operation unit 34, the data input / output unit 42 accepts the input data and outputs it to the data holding unit 43. In an example of the present embodiment, the data input / output unit 42 arranges and outputs input values (data) for each interface component in the input field in the order included in the terminal control information. The data holding unit 43 holds the data output from the data input / output unit 42.

When the device control unit 44 receives the input of the distribution information including the device control information from the data input / output unit 42, the device control unit 44 outputs the device control information included in the distribution information to the device 4 via the device communication unit 45. The device control unit 44 may perform processing using data included in the distribution information together with the device control information. In an example of this embodiment, control information at the start of printing, such as initialization, designation of a print position, etc., and control information at the end of printing (such as a page break instruction) as device control information as information for controlling the printer. Entered.

Also, the device control unit 44 includes the data received from the server included in the distribution information between the control information at the start of printing and the control information at the end of printing. In addition, the device control unit 44 may insert a character string (so-called CR, LF code) indicating the end of the print line into the data every predetermined number of characters or every predetermined number of data.

Specifically, the device control information for controlling the printer that the device control unit 44 receives input may be described by a well-known printer control command such as ESC / P. The control information at the start of printing in this case is, for example,
ESC @ (initialization)
ESC 0 (setting of line feed amount)
ESC $ a b (Sets the horizontal position at which printing starts based on parameters a and b)
It will be something like that. Further, the control information at the end of printing may be an FF (Full Feed) code.

In the case of this example, if the data received together with the device control information is a serial number from 1 to 100, for example, the device control unit 44 includes the CR and LF commands for every five data,
ESC @ (initialization)
ESC 0 (setting of line feed amount)
ESC $ a b (Sets the horizontal position at which printing starts based on parameters a and b)
1,2,3,4,5 CR LF
6,7,8,9,10 CR LF
......
96,97,98,99,100 CR LF
FF
As described above, data including the data received from the server device 2 is added to the device control information and transmitted to the device 4 via the device communication unit 45.

Further, when the device control unit 44 receives information via the device communication unit 45 from the device 4 side that transmitted the device control information (including the case where data is added), the distribution information including the received information as a parameter And a request for the generated distribution information is sent to the server apparatus 2.

The device 4 is a printer or the like, and is connected to the terminal device 3 through an interface such as a USB or a network in an example of the present embodiment. The device 4 receives input of device control information from the terminal device 3, operates in accordance with the device control information, and sends information indicating a result of the operation (a code indicating a successful process, an error code, etc.) to the terminal device 3. .

The embodiment of the present invention has the above-described configuration and operates as follows. In the following example, the back-end device 1 performs, as inventory management processing, distribution information P1 including an instruction to display a column for inputting a product number and a quantity, and distribution information P2 including an instruction to output data to a printer. Are delivered when requested. Specifically, in the distribution information P2, it is assumed that device control information and data to be printed are described in a predefined <print> tag. The distribution information P1 includes an instruction to display a button related to an instruction for transmitting data to the back-end device 1 (a description of the button including an instruction to submit data when operated). Further, it is assumed that the distribution information P1 includes an instruction to display a button related to an instruction for requesting printing.

In addition, here, the program executed by the back-end device 1 sends each piece of distribution information using the HTTP protocol. Specifically, this program can be described by a script language such as JavaScript (registered trademark), PHP, ASP (Active Server Pages) in addition to Java (registered trademark) and its servlet.

When the terminal device 3 accesses the server device 2, the distribution information P1 is transmitted from the server device 2. An example of the operation of the information processing system in the present embodiment is as shown in FIG. That is, when the terminal device 3 accesses the server device 2 when the initialization operation is performed (S1), the server device 2 sends a request for acquiring data of a predetermined URL to the back-end device 1. (S2). In response to the data acquisition request, the back-end device 1 distributes the distribution information P1 specified by the requested URL to the server device 2 that is the request source (S3).

The HTTP client unit 21 of the server device 2 receives the distribution information P1. And the server apparatus 2 performs the operation | movement as the information conversion part 22, and converts the screen description information contained in the delivery information P1 into terminal control information (S4). The terminal control information includes an instruction to display a product number input field and a quantity input field and accept a user operation. Each input field may be associated with a condition related to a user operation. For example, an operation condition indicating that bar code input is possible may be specified in the product number input field, and an operation condition in which a numerical value between 50 and 100 is to be input by the keypad in the quantity input field. It may be. The information conversion unit 22 transmits the terminal control information obtained by the conversion to the terminal device 3 (S5).

The control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 receives the input of the terminal control information received by the communication unit 35, interprets the contents, and inputs the product number at each position designated by the terminal control information on the display unit 33. A column and a quantity input column are displayed (S6).

When the control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 inputs an input of a product number by an operation from the user, and then reads the barcode related to the inventory by operating the barcode reader which is the operation unit 34, The data read by the bar code reader (assumed to be “aaaa” as an example) is output to the control unit 31. The control unit 31 holds the information in the storage unit 32 and stores the data in a product number input field. The display unit 33 is controlled to display on the screen. Then, the control unit 31 moves the cursor to the quantity input field.

When the user inputs, for example, “100” and operates a button indicating that data should be transmitted to the back-end device 1, the control unit 31 displays the URL (input) included in the instruction to display the button. And a list (parameter list) of input values (product number and quantity) are transmitted to the server device 2 via the communication unit 35 (S7).

The server device 2 transmits a request for data specified by the URL and a list of parameters to the back-end device 1 side (S8). In response to this request, the back-end device 1 executes a program for accepting data, and performs processing such as storing the values indicated by the received parameter list in a database or the like (S9).

The operation when the user operates the terminal device 3 and operates a button related to an instruction to request printing will be described with reference to FIG. In this case, the control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 includes the URL (URL of the distribution information P2 including the device control information) included in the instruction to display the button and a list (parameter number) of the input values (product number and quantity). List) is transmitted to the server device 2 via the communication unit 35 (S11). The server device 2 transmits a request for data specified by the URL and a list of parameters to the back-end device 1 side (S12). Then, the back-end device 1 performs processing such as storing the value indicated by the received parameter list in a database or the like, and in response to the request for this data, the distribution information P2 corresponding to the received URL is Distribution is made to the server apparatus 2 that is the request source (S13).

The HTTP client unit 21 of the server device 2 receives the distribution information P2. Then, the server device 2 executes an operation as the information conversion unit 22. Here, since the device information is included in the distribution information P2, the server device 2 transmits the distribution information P2 including the device control information to the terminal device 3 as it is (S14).

The control unit 31 of the terminal apparatus 3 receives the input of the distribution information P2 (including device control information and data here) received by the communication unit 35 and examines the contents. Here, since device control information is included in the received distribution information P2, the control unit 31 operates as the device control unit 44 for the device control information and transmits the device control information to the device 4 (S15).

Specifically, here, the device control information included in the distribution information P2 received from the server device 2 is
ESC @ (initialization)
ESC 0 (setting of line feed amount)
ESC $ a b (Sets the horizontal position at which printing starts based on parameters a and b)
In the case where the instruction at the start of printing is included, the control unit 31 continues with this, including data (for example, a list of product numbers and quantities) included in the distribution information P2,
aaaa, 100 CR LF
, And is an instruction at the end of printing in the device control information included in the distribution information P2 received from the server device 2
FF
Is sent to the device 4.

The printer as the device 4 receives the device control information (data added) sent from the terminal device 3. Then, the printer initializes the printer according to the instructions described in the received device control information, sets the line feed amount, feeds the paper, sets the print start position, and then the character string of the product number and quantity as data , “Aaaa, 印字 100” is printed on the paper, a line feed is made, and the printed paper is discharged (S16).

Then, the printer sends information indicating that the printing is completed to the terminal device 3 (S17). The terminal device 3 accepts the information, generates a distribution information request including information indicating that the printing is completed as a parameter, and sends the generated distribution information request to the server device 2 (S18). The distribution information request (URL) to be transmitted here may be recorded in the distribution information P2 in association with the device control information, or set in advance as a URL to be specified when the result is notified. There may be.

The server device 2 transmits a request for data specified by the URL to the back-end device 1 side (S20). In response to this request, the back-end device 1 receives the result of device control (here, information indicating that printing has been completed) included in the URL. Information on the result of this device control may be provided for later processing. Specifically, the subsequent processing is processing for transmitting distribution information describing information indicating that to the terminal device 3 via the server device 2 when the device control result is an error. .

As described above, according to the present embodiment, if the terminal device 3 can perform processing for sending information to a device, a device driver and a control application unique to each device are individually provided to the terminal device 3. You can control the device without having to install it. Also, the device control result can be acquired by the back-end device 1, and various processes can be performed in the back-end device 1.

In the description here, the printer is described as an example of the device 4, but the example of the device 4 is not limited to the printer. For example, the device 4 may be a card reader / writer or an IC chip reader. In this case, the device 4 reads information on a card or an IC chip as processing based on device control information received from the back-end device 1 via the server device 2 and the terminal device 3. Then, the information obtained by reading is sent to the terminal device 3 as information representing the result of the operation. The terminal device 3 sends a request for distribution information including the information to the back-end device 1 via the server device 2.

Further, the device 4 may be a GPS (Global Positioning System) device inside the terminal device 3. In this case, the control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 controls the GPS device based on the device control information received from the server device 2 and acquires position information as information representing the result of the operation. Then, a request for distribution information including the acquired position information is sent to the back-end device 1 via the server device 2.

Furthermore, the device 4 may be a camera inside the terminal device 3. In this case, the control unit 31 of the terminal device 3 activates the camera based on the device control information received from the server device 2. Then, the terminal device 3 operates as a camera, waits for the user to press the shutter, and when the user presses the shutter, the information of the image captured by the image sensor at that time is recorded in the terminal device 3. The The terminal device 3 sends the distribution information request including the information of the captured image thus obtained to the back-end device 1 via the server device 2.

1 back-end device, 2 server device, 3 terminal device, 4 device, 11 web server unit, 12 back-end processing unit, 21 client unit, 22 information conversion unit, 31 control unit, 32 storage unit, 33 display unit, 34 operation Unit, 35 communication unit, 36 interface unit, 41 interpreter unit, 42 data input / output unit, 43 data holding unit, 44 device control unit, 45 device communication unit.

Claims

A server device;
A back-end device;
An information processing system including the server device and a terminal device connected to be communicable with each device to be controlled,
The server device
Means for accepting screen description information regarding the input interface from the back-end device;
Based on the received screen description information, means for converting into information in a data format interpretable by the terminal device;
Means for transmitting information in a data format interpretable on the terminal device side to the terminal device;
A server device that receives control information for controlling the device from the back-end device and transmits the information to the terminal device;
The terminal device
Receiving means for receiving control information transmitted from the back-end device via the server device;
Means for sending the received control information to the device;
Information processing system including
It is connected so that it can communicate with each of the server device and the device to be controlled,
Means for receiving information defining an input interface from the server device and presenting the input interface to the user based on the information;
Receiving means for receiving control information for controlling the device and data processed by the device from the server device;
Device communication means for sending the received control information and the received data to the device;
A terminal device including
A computer that is communicably connected to the server device and each of the devices to be controlled,
Means for receiving information defining an input interface from the server device and presenting the input interface to the user based on the information;
Receiving means for receiving control information for controlling the device and data processed by the device from the server device;
Device communication means for sending the received control information and the received data to the device;
Program to function as.